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Texas Couple Utilizes Their Own Feedyard to Establish Texas Natural Beef by David Bowser Widgy and Mary Brown think they have found their niche raising and feeding natural beef. The challenges this couple has faced deal not so much with their cattle, but turning the five generation Brown Cattle Company into a beef production company. They take the cattle from the family's commercial herd near Wichita Falls, Texas, through the retail food counter in neighboring communities. The internet has expanded their market to other regions of the country. The added value means added effort, but the Browns say it's worth it. Texas Natural Beef cattle are home-raised and fed without ruminant by-products, growth hormones or antibiotics. Brown mixes his own corn-based ration based on a consulting nutritionist's recipe. Brown said he began researching natural beef four or five years ago. His plan was to take his calves, follow a natural beef program and sell them for a premium. Once he started, however, he decided they could feed their own cattle. After several years of studying and the natural beef business, Brown took a feedyard that had been shut down for a number of years and began rebuilding it. Previously, it was a 20,000 head capacity yard. It is now a 10,000 head yard with room for expansion. In addition to their natural beef operation, Brown Cattle Company also custom feeds cattle for more traditional markets. Brown started the yard with the idea of preconditioning calves. Since there weren't any feedyards in the area, the Browns decided to feed cattle, starting with their own calves. "I read articles on natural beef years ago," Brown said. "I wanted to do it, and we decided we'd try." Texas Natural Beef seemed like the next logical step. "I think over the next few years, there's going to be a lot more demand for natural beef," Brown said. He said producing natural beef is not much more trouble than raising cattle and feeding them on a natural regimen, although backgrounding and herd health programs take on greater importance. Although there are cattle that seem to feed better on a natural regimen than other types of cattle, Brown said he is happy with the results he's gotten using his black and black baldie cattle. "The Angus does pretty well with the Hereford crosses," Brown said. The meat marbles well and tastes good, his wife added. The problem may not be raising and feeding or even marketing the natural beef. The problem may be producing enough natural beef to meet the demand. While the 200 head or so the Browns have slaughtered in their fledgling natural operation represent only a small portion of the cattle they feed at their feedyard, the couple expect this sector of their business to grow. The difficult part has not been the feeding, but the steps they've taken beyond the live cattle. The couple is establishing a branded product, which is no small task. They have the cattle slaughtered at a USDA inspected packing house, and the individual cuts are vacuumed packed and frozen. While they ship their product to customers in nine states, they also sell to health food stores in North Texas. Texas Natural Beef is in stores in Wichita Falls, Denton and Abilene. The Browns are planning to open their own retail outlet in Wichita Falls, and they are talking to several supermarket chains. Mary Brown said the marketing aspect of the operation has been a learning experience. While she and Widgy grew up at a time when families had big freezers and bought beef halves and quarters, she said that now most meat is sold as individual cuts and consumed at the next meal. That's both good and bad. While the Browns are happy to see that the natural beef they produce has been received well, some cuts are more popular than others. The problem is that the Browns have to sell ALL the carcass. "T-bones and the ribeyes go really quickly," Mary said. They have one customer that buys only T-bone steaks, but Brown pointed out that for every 18 packages of T-bones that get sold, he needs to sell 125 packages of ground beef. "That's why we're trying to come out with some things like the fajita meat and maybe a chili mix," she said. If they can get USDA permission, they're considering getting into the ready-to-eat market. "A guy I'm working with now has a kitchen," Mary said. He can cater, she said, but he has to get another USDA certification to be able to provide ready-to-eat meals. Mary Brown is working on making the finished beef product more convenient for today's homemakers, including developing new products. "We looking at some things that will make it more marketable," Mary Brown said. They are offering seasoned fajita meat where all the customer has to do is open the bag, throw the meat on the grill and cook it. Widgy handles the production of the live cattle. Mary handles the marketing of the beef. She laughs that the only part of the beef end of the business he enjoys is the tasting. "He thinks we ought to taste all the ribeyes," she said, "but that kind of cuts into the profit." Despite their success, the Browns still face challenges. One of those challenges is the ability to provide a steady supply of natural beef. At this point, the only way to increase profitability is to build volume. "We're still growing," she said. "We're not there yet." It takes time to build a business, the couple admitted. Although they've taken the initial and perhaps the most difficult steps, Brown and his wife said that creating a natural beef product brand is a lot of work. "There's just a lot more to it than people realize," Mary said. "If we were to the point where we had a 1,000 head running through here and were meeting some of the big demand, we would be more profitable." "It's climbing," she said. "We have some established customers. The first step's the hardest." |
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